The Australian government says it has finalised a deal for a limited travel bubble across the Tasman, but New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern says the country is still not ready to have quarantine-free travel. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he spoke to his New Zealand counterpart Jacinda Ardern earlier today. Announcing the news across the […]

In a year full of travel misery and Covid chaos, there is one ironic bright spot – the New Zealand passport is now the world’s most powerful according to one visa index. The Passport Index is one of several indices which measure the amount of visa-free world travel. It looks at the passports of 193 […]

More schools have signed up to the government’s donation scheme for 2021 leaving just 99 eligible schools outside the scheme next year. Education Minister Chris Hipkins said 45 schools were opting into the scheme for the first time next year and five that were in it this year were leaving in 2021. The scheme introduced […]

The Film Commission says border exemptions for Hollywood actors and crew have kickstarted what could be a record year for the New Zealand screen industry. More than 200 overseas cast and film workers were allowed into New Zealand in the three months to July. Avatar, Lord of the Rings, Cowboy Bebop and Sweet Tooth are in production, another […]

The Minister of Immigration is adamant the government will not let oveseas workers cut corners through border controls to fix a horticulture labour shortage. Growers around the country are facing a crisis like they’ve never seen before. Usually, about 14,000 workers come in to the country to work the apple season, taking part in the […]

Hawke’s Bay has recorded the largest increase in visitor spending in August, rising 10 percent to $45 million dollars. It was the only region in the North Island to experience growth, with Auckland suffering the largest drop in visitor spending, down 61 percent to $255m, compared to August 2019, according to figures from the Ministry […]

More than 6000 complaints about employers have been lodged with the government since the start of March. That’s more than 10 times as many as during the same seven-month period last year. The data, released by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) to RNZ, records people wanting government help to resolve a workplace […]

Flood protection for Whakatāne’s town centre is about to get a much-needed upgrade to protect people and property against a one-in-100-year flood. Project Future Proof has been drawn up to upgrade stopbanks and floodwalls surrounding the central business district and address seepage issues. It was presented to Whakātane District councillors yesterday by staff from the […]

The Reserve Bank says any further easy money policy measures will have the simple aim of lowering the cost of borrowing and ensuring banks have enough cheap liquidity to back investment by businesses and spending by households. In a briefing on its two favoured mechanisms – funding for lending (FLP), and negative interest rates – […]

Businesses are optimistic about the future for the first time since Covid-19 emerged. ANZ’s preliminary monthly survey for October, titled “Party like it’s 2019”, shows businesses have reported improving confidence in their markets. The responses come as Auckland and the rest of the country get closer to a return to regular life, with decreasing alert […]